January 17 marks the 300th birthday of Benjamin Franklin,
perhaps the most important figure in American revolutionary history. Ben
Franklin may have been America’s first "Renaissance man." He was an
entrepreneur, scientist, inventor, author, statesman-diplomat, political
philosopher and philanthropist — what one biographer described as a "harmonious
human multitude." He also may very well be the grandfather of America’s
tradition of giving and a variety of its civil institutions. Americans should
pause this month and consider the value that just one person can bring to
nations and neighborhoods.

Ben Franklin was one of 17 children fathered by
tallow-chandler Josiah Franklin. At the age of 12, Franklin was apprenticed to
his printer brother. With only two years of formal schooling, Franklin began
educating himself. He mastered writing and — at age 16 — began submitting now
famous letters under the pseudonym Silence Dogood to his brother’s Boston
newspaper, the New England Courant. That he valued independence at such an early
age is evident from one of his secret submissions, which was highlighted in
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Issacson’s insightful biography:

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I am . . . a mortal enemy to
arbitrary government and unlimited power. I am naturally very jealous for the
rights and liberties of my country; and the least appearance of an encroachment
on those invaluable privileges is apt to make my blood boil exceedingly.

And boil it would, but not for decades. America’s
Declaration of Independence from Great Britain was still more than 50 years
away. Franklin would eventually flee his apprenticeship for work in England and
return two years later to make a life in Philadelphia. By the age of 24,
Franklin owned his own print shop and enjoyed a reputation as an intelligent and
hardworking citizen.

Franklin thrived as a businessman and as the publisher of
Poor Richard’s Almanac, which contained witticisms that remain part of American
culture today: "God helps them that help themselves" and "Early to bed and early
to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" are just two. The Almanac, first
published in 1733, helped make Franklin a wealthy man.

Franklin’s projects during the 1730s were not limited to
those of a commercial nature. Franklin created a private lending library
financed by subscriptions; invented America’s first volunteer fire department;
and, as Isaacson points out, he would later create a college, hospital and
militia.

In 1835, the famous French commentator Alexis de
Tocqueville would write of such efforts in the general sense:

Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all
types of disposition are forever forming associations … At the head of any new
undertaking, where in France you would find the government or in England some
territorial magnate, in the United States you are sure to find an association.

Franklin was in great part responsible for driving these
private civil institutions as a way to improve public life. Franklin also
invented "matching grants," now a staple of charitable fundraising efforts
around the world.

During his lifetime Franklin would invent the lightning
rod, bifocals, swim fins, a highly efficient stove, medical catheter and a
musical instrument known as the "glass armonica," on which Mozart and Beethoven
would later compose music. He would also discover a basic principle of
refrigeration and chart the flow of the Gulf Stream.

Franklin was 45 when he conducted his famous kite
experiment involving lightning. By any measure, he had already lived a rich,
full life. But Franklin’s contributions to America were far from over. He was
about to step onto the world’s historical stage as a lead actor in the American
Revolution. Indeed, Franklin is the only founder to sign all three of the
documents that created the United States: The Declaration of Independence, the
Treaty of Paris and the U.S. Constitution. His diplomatic work in France was
essential to acquiring the assistance colonists needed to defeat the British.

Franklin is sometimes referred to as "The First American"
because his personas embodied characteristics that would come to define the new
nation’s people: industriousness, inventiveness, love of liberty and a
charitable nature. There is much to admire about this ruggedly independent
character from American history, and the occasion of his 300th birthday is a
good time to reflect on his multiple contributions to the civic good.

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Michael D. LaFaive is director of fiscal policy for the
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute
headquartered in Midland, Mich. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is
hereby granted, provided that the author and the Center are properly cited.